Crack-preventing means for looms.



No; 848.772; PATENTED APR. 2, 1907.

' G. F. ROPER.

CRACK PREVENTING MEANS FOR LOOMS.

APPLICATION FILED APR.17, 1906.

THE mamas PETERS ca, WASHINGTON, p. c.

' UNITED STATES PATENT orrron.

CHARLES F. ROPER, OF HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO DRAPER COMPANY,'OF HQPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

CRACK-PREVENTING MEANS FOR LOOIVIS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. April 2, 1907.

Application filed April 1'7 1906. Serial No. 312,118.

To aZZ whom, it natty concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLEs F. RorER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hopedale, county of I/Vorcester, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Crack-Preventing Means for Looms, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object the production of novel and effective means for preventing the formation of cracks in the cloth being woven on a loom when the power is thrown off.

My invention in practice applies more particularly to looms provided with warp-stopmotion mechanism arranged to knock off or throw off the power when the lay is at back center. In such looms means have been devised to stop the movement of the lay before it reaches front center after the power has been thrown off, and such a structure forms the subject-matter of United States Patent No. 804,981, granted to me November 21, 1905.

To those skilled in the art it is well known that when the power is thrown off the speed of themoving parts of the loom decreases instantly and the momentum of the lay diminishes rapidly before the loom comes to a full stop. T he forward beat or beats of the lay after the power is thrown off will not properly beat in the filling, because the lay does not move forward quite so far, and as the filling is not beaten into the fell as firmly as it should be a crack in the cloth is produced.

In my present invention I permit the lay to beat in the filling last laid, as the momentum of the lay on the first beat after knockoff is sufficient to beat up properly; but the lay is then stopped before it can again beat up, and thus the crack is prevented.

Supposing the loom knocks ofl' at about back center, the lay comes forward and beats in fully and firmly the filling last laid, but the means for stopping the movement of the lay is not permitted to begin to act until the shipper or other device governing the operation of the loom has nearly completed its movement into stopping position. The formation of a crack is thereby prevented and the lay is stopped before it can again beat up.

The various novel features of my invention will be fully described in the subjoined specification and particularly pointed out in the following claims.

Figure 1 is a left-hand side elevation of a suflicient portion of a loom with one embodiment of my invention applied thereto, the parts being shown in the position assumed when the loom is running. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the device which governs the operation of the loom and the instrumentality controlled by said device and by or through which the formation of a crack is prevented, the governing device being shown in the position assumed when the loom is running. Fig. 3 is a similar view of the parts referred to, but with the governing device'in the position assumed when the loom is stopped. Fig. 4 is a detail in side elevation of some of the parts illustrated in Fig. 1 to be referred to.

The lay 1, crank-shaft 2, having fast thereon a rotatable brake member 3, a cooperating member or shoe 4:, fulcrumed at 5, constituting a brake mechanism, the link 6, connecting the shoe with the'frog 7, forming a part of usual protector mechanism, the latter including the dagger 8, binder-finger 9, and binder 10, Fig. 1, and operating in usual manner, and the loom-governing device or shipper 11, fulcrumed at 12 on the loom side and thrown into loom-stopping position by the spring 13, and the notched holding-plate 141 for the shipper may be and are all substantially of wellknown construction and operate in a manner familiar to those skilled in the art.

The shipper may be released upon the occurrence of a filling fault or upon occurrence of a warp fault by any of the well-known devices constructed for the purpose and not herein shown, one form of such devices being shown in my Patent No. 804,981, hereinbefore referred to, the shipper being released upon the occurrence of a warp fault when the lay is at back center.

In the present embodiment of my invention I have shown the rear edge of the shoe 4 provided with a boss 15, Fig. 1, adapted to be engaged by the short arm 16 of a bent lever 16 17, fulcrumed on the loom side at 18 behind the shoe, the said lever constituting an actuator to effect cooperation between the brake members 3 and 1, and thereby set the brake. The lever-arm 17 is very long compared with the arm 16, extending forward beneath the holding-plate 14 and bent upward at its forward end at 19, the extremity of the part 19 constituting a handle 20 for a purpose to be described. When said actuator is released and free to descend from full to dotted line position, Fig. 1, its weight added to the difference in the lever-arms 16 17 causes the former to engage the boss 15 and set the brake mechanism to stop the movement of the lay.

Referring to Figs. 2 and 3, a depending bracket 21 is rigidly bolted to the front of the holding-plate 14 near its outer end, and on this bracket a detent or controlling instrumentality is fulcrumed at 22. Said detent is shown as a species of elbow 23, having at its free end a face 24, adapted to extend under the outer or front end of the leverarm 17, and the lower edge of the detent is shaped to present a cam-surface 25 26. A stud 27 on the shipper projects forwardly, and when the shipper is in running position the stud extends beneath the part 26 of the cam-surface, holding the detent in the position shown in Fig. 2, with the actuator 16 17 raised in full-line inoperative position. (Shown by full lines, Fig. 1.) The part 26 and face 24 are shown as substantially parallel, and when the loom is running they are substantially horizontal.

l Vhen the shipper is released, it moves outward in the holding-plate 14 to stopping position, and the stud 27 travels along the edge 26 of the cam-surface, and the dotted posi tion of the stud in Fig. 2- shows it as just about to leave the edge 26 and engage the inclined edge 25. The shipper is then well out, but no release of the brake-actuator has been effected, and the lay has been moving forward from back center, so that as yet there has been no movement whatever of the brake members 3 and 4 toward cooperation. As the stud 27 passes into engagement with the edge 25 of the cam-surface, however, the detent 23 begins to swing downward, and the brake-actuator begins its operative movement to set the brake but the setting of the brake is not completed until the shipper reaches its stopping position. (Shown in Fig. 3.) By this time, however, the lay has completed its forward movement and has properly beaten in the filling last laid and thereafter is brought to rest before it can again beat up, the operation of the brake mechanism having been delayed or retarded until the shipper has reached a predetermined point in its movement to stopping position. Owing to the cam-surface on the detent the release of the brake-actuator is not effected until the lay has moved forward with practically its full running momentum, so that the last-laid filling is fully and firmly beaten in and a crack is thereby prevented.

When the shipper is moved to running position to start the loom, the stud 27 acts through the detent to restore it and the brake-actuator to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2, releasing the brake before the power is thrown on. a

It is frequently desirable to release the brake while the loom is stopped, so that the loom may be turned over by hand, and to do this the operative grasps the handle 20 and raises the actuator to inoperative position. (Shown in full lines, Fig. 1.) To retain the actuator in such position while the shipper is off, I have pivotally mounted a catch 28 on the outer end of the actuator at 29, said catch having a rearwardly-extended tail 30. A slight shelf-like projection 31 is formed on the front of the holding-plate 14, and when the actuator is lifted by the operator the weight of the tail 30 serves to turn the catch 28 rearward, so that its hooked end engages the projection 31, as in Fig. 4, a shoulder 19 on the part 19 preventing improper fall of the tail when the handle is lifted. The tail 30 extends above the face 24 of the detent, and when the catch is in engagement with the projection 31 the lower edge of said tail is below the lower edge of the adjacent part of the brake-actuator, as shown in Fig. 4. Now when the shipper is moved to running position the rise of the detent causes its face 24 to engage the tail, lifting it and releasing the catch as the face 24 comes into operative engagement with the brake-actuator, as in Figs. 1 and 2. The parts are now in readiness to operate, as has been described, when the shipper is released again from its holdingnotch in the plate 14.

By my invention, one practical embodiment of which is herein shown and described, the full power of the brake is not permitted to act until the lay, moving forward with practically undimimshed speed, has had time to fully and firmly beat in the filling last laid, and thereafter the brake acts with its full power and stops the lay before it can again beat up. I thereby obviate any possibility of a crack being formed in the cloth.

My invention is not restricted to the precise construction and arrangement herein shown and described, as the same may be modified in various particulars by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a loom, a lay, means to stop the movement thereof, a shipper, an instrumentality rendered operative by final movement thereof to stopping position to cause said means to stop the lay after passing front center, and means to positively render said instrumentality inoperative by movement of the shipper to running position.

2. In a loom, a lay, means to stop the movement thereof, and a shipper controlling by its movement the operation of said means and positively rendering the same inoperative when the shipper is in running position, movement of the shipper to stopping position causing said means to stop the lay after beating in the last-laid filling.

3. In a loom, a lay, braking means to stop its movement, a shipper, and connections between it and said means to positively control and retain the latter inoperative when the shipper is in running position and to permit said means to operate when the shipper is nearly in stopping position, whereby the braking action on the lay is delayed until after the filling has been beaten in.

4. In a loom, a device to govern the operation thereof, a lay, brake mechanism for the loom, and means to actuate said mechanism, combined with an instrumentality controlled at all times by said device to prevent the operation of said actuating vmeans until the governing device has nearly attained its position to cause loom stoppage.

5. In a loom, a shipper, a lay, brake mechanism for the loom, and means to actuate said mechanism, combined with a detent to prevent the operation of said actuating means when the shipper is in running position, the movement of the shipper to stopping position rendering said detent inoperative only when the shipper has nearly reached the limit of such movement.

6. In a loom, a device to govern the operation thereof, a lay, protector mechanism, a brake mechanism actuated by or through the operation of the protector mechanism, and an independent instrumentality to effect the operation of the brake mechanism after com plete beat-up of the lay when the movement of the governing device to effect stoppage of the loom is nearly completed.

7. In a loom, a shipper, a lay, means to arrest the forward movement of the lay, and a device governing the operation of said means and controlled at all times by the position of the shipper, movement of the shipper to stopping position acting when such movement is nearly com leted to effect the operation of said means tlrough a change in the position of the governing device.

8. Ina loom, a shipper, a rotatable brake member, a shoe to cooperate therewith, an actuator to effect cooperation of said brake members, and a device to maintain the actuator inoperative when the shipper is in running position, movement of the shipper to stopping position gradually moving the device to prevent full release of the actuator until after the lay has beaten in the filling last laid.

, 9. In a loom, a shipper, a rotatable brake member, a shoe to cooperate therewith, an actuator to efiect cooperation of said brake members, a detent cooperating with the ac tuator and maintaining it inoperative when the shipper is in running position, and a connection between said shipper and detent to gradually move the detent into inoperative position as the shipper is moved to stopping osition whereb coo eratin movement of P s the brake members is delayed until such shipper movement is nearly completed.

10. In a loom, a shipper, a rotatable brake member, a shoe to cooperate therewith, an actuator to effect cooperation of said brake members, a pivotally-mounted detent to cooperate with the actuator and having a camface, and a projection on the shipper to cooperate with said cam-face, retaining the detent in operative position when the loom is running and gradually moving the detent into inoperative position as the shipper moves into stopping position.

11. In a loom, a shipper, a rotatable brake member, a shoe to cooperate therewith, an actuator to eiiect cooperation of said brake members, a device controlled by the shipper to maintain the actuator. inoperative when the shipper is in running position and to 'release the actuator when the movement of the shipper to stopping position is nearly completed, and a catch to automatically retain the actuator inoperative if restored to normal position while the loom is stopped, return of the shipper to running position acting to release the catch.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

CHARLES F. ROPER.

Witnesses:

GEORGE OTIS DRAPER, ERNEST W. Woon. 

